1000 Drones Convene in a One-of-a-Kind Light Show Brought to the New York City Skies by Projecting Change

On September 15th 2023, the New York City skyline will come to life with a thousand drones above the East River Adjacent to the United Nations Building, with a series of synchronised drone shows that will inspire, educate, unify, and activate our local and global collective around the climate crisis and other important environmental campaigns. 

This coincides with the 78th United Nations General Assembly and the UN-Secretary-General’s Climate Ambition Summit and SDG Summit, sending a strong message to world leaders - and will serve as a kick-off to Climate Week. 

In anticipation of this key moment, Projecting Change has developed an aerial art show with the support of Avaaz, Eat Differently, Fortescue, The Ford Foundation, The Oceanic Preservation Society, TMRW, Holtzman Wildlife, and, alongside production partners Nova Skystories, Minds Over Matter, Soren West, and HELO which sheds light on key initiatives driving climate change policy and action. 

The Eat Differently initiative, which inspires people to eat plants, not animals 

● In advance of president Lula's speech opening the General Debate, Avaaz, a global civic movement campaigning for Brazil to commit to protect the Amazon, is drawing attention to the Amazon emergency as a global climate emergency. 

● The support of the advancement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and the UN Act Now Campaign 

● The launch of the TMRW competition, which will run until October 14th 

The show has been directed by Academy Award-winning director of The Cove and director of Projecting Change, Louie Psihoyos, who stated, “Our creative teams have programmed a thousand drones to dance over the New York City skyline to form magical creatures that deliver messages on how to save the planet—you won’t want to miss this show.” 

The show is co-created and executive produced by Projecting Change CEO Christopher Lejeune, who stated, “Art has the power to shift cultures. We urgently need to drive change at scale - to redesign our human systems to be in alignment with nature, and respect all life. Our children's survival and all future generations of life on Earth - depend on it.”

After sunset and throughout the evening, a synchronised series of drone shows will be viewable by New Yorkers along the East River on both sides. The shows are weather dependent. People can monitor Projecting Change social media for information about weather cancellations. Information can be found on Facebook, X and Instagram.

At the end of each show, viewers will be prompted to scan a QR code in the sky which will bring them to the Drone Show’s associated campaigns. 

The QR code will also feature a call-to-action to take part in a unique contest hosted by TMRW, an initiative that aims to empower humanity towards an inclusive and sustainable future through the use of AI to imagine what that future could look like. Participants will be encouraged to enter their creative ideas for objects, inventions, places and environments that could contribute to a sustainable future. The AI system developed by TMRW will then get to work generating visuals that bring these ideas to life. 

Brendan Kiernan, founder of TMRW commented, “The goal of this competition is to empower New Yorkers to believe that they have a role in shaping the future we want. Through the data and ideas we receive, we are aiming to create a coherent enough vision of that future to apply pressure on enterprise and governments to take action needed to move towards it.” 

The drones taking flight are powered by Nova Sky Stories, the global leader in drone show experiences founded by renowned entrepreneur Kimbal Musk. The evening will feature presentations of climate action animations illuminated by 1,000 drones in the night sky above the East River. 

Note - the drone show is weather dependent. 

Special thanks to The United Nations, The City of New York, NYPD, New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation, FAA, Coast Guard.